EDWARD SNOWDERN: A TELEOLOGICAL APPROACH

THE SNOWDERN SAGA. 

Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American computer specialist, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, and former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who disclosed top secret NSA documents to several media outlets, initiating the NSA leaks, which reveal operational details of a global surveillance apparatus run by the NSA and other members of the Five Eyes alliance, along with numerous commercial and international partners.

(source: http://www.businessinsider.com/)

And here's an extended timeline of Snowden's travels and actions:

From 2007 to 2009, Snowden worked as a CIA technician in Geneva. He subsequently went to work for Dell as an NSA contractor.

In December 2012 the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which includes documentarian Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald on its board of directors, launched to crowd-source funding for WikiLeaks.

Around January 2013, Snowden reached out to Poitras. In March he began working for Booz Allen in Hawaii. Poitras said she told Glenn Greenwald about Snowden in April. (According to Greenwald, they began working with Snowden in February.)

On May 20, Snowden flew from Hawaii to Hong Kong, where he subsequently met Poitras, Greenwald, and Guardian reporter Ewan MacAskill.

On June 9, Snowden's identity was revealed in a video filmed by Poitras, and he subsequently went underground.

On June 11, MacAskill reported that Snowden arrived in Hong Kong "carrying four computers that enabled him to gain access to some of the US government's most highly-classified secrets."

On June 12, Snowden leaked specific IP addresses in China and Hong Kong that the NSA was hacking to the South China Morning Post. Snowden also told SCMP that he intended to leak more documents later.

Also on June 12, Snowden reportedly reached out to WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson about asylum in Iceland.

• Assange told reporters that WikiLeaks paid for Snowden's lodgings in Hong Kong.

On June 23, after he reportedly spent several days in the Russian consulate in Hong Kong, Snowden flew to Moscow with WikiLeaks adviser Sarah Harrison (who had been advising him in Hong Kong).

○ The U.S. had revoked Snowden's passport on June 22, but Snowden traveled with an Ecuadorian travel document acquired by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

○ Upon landing in Moscow, Snowden was reportedly surrounded by Russian security agents. The Ecuadorian president subsequently said that the travel document was invalid.

On July 12, Snowden retained the services of Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer employed by the post-KGB Russian Security Services (FSB).

On July 14, Greenwald told The Associated Press that Snowden "is in possession of literally thousands of documents ... that would allow somebody who read them to know exactly how the NSA does what it does, which would in turn allow them to evade that surveillance or replicate it."

On Aug. 1, Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum and moved him to a "secure" location.

On Oct. 31, Snowden met with German Green Party MP Hans-Christian Ströbele. Russian intelligence 

experts subsequently told the Berlin daily Die Welt that the FSB "organized and monitored Ströbele’s visit to Moscow and effectively used it for its purposes," as former NSA spy John Schindler put it.

On Nov. 1, it was reported that NSA chief Keith Alexander recently said Snowden took as many as 200,000 classified documents with him when he left Hawaii.

On Nov. 8, Kucherena said that Snowden has started his new job at an undisclosed Russian website. He also said that Snowden won't go to Germany to testify on NSA spying because he "has no right to cross Russian borders."

All that being said, there's still a lot we don't know about the Snowden saga.

Primary questions include: How many NSA documents did he take from Hawaii? How many did he give to the journalists he met in Hong Kong? What happened to Snowden between the time he went underground (June 10) and when he left for Moscow (June 23)? 

What was Russia's involvement in Hong Kong given that Snowden reportedly spent his 30th birthday in the Kremlin's Hong Kong consulate? When did Snowden give up access to the documents he took to China? What, if anything, has China and/or Russia been able to glean from Snowden? Why would Snowden take 30,000 documents that do not deal with NSA surveillance "but primarily with standard intelligence about other countries’ military capabilities, including weapons systems"?

Two things are almost certain: There are more surveillance stories coming, and Snowden's life is now supervised by Russian intelligence.

Question of “right”

Snowden job as a "infrastructure analyst", which meant that his job was to look for new ways to break into Internet and telephone traffic around the world.

• June 14, 2013, U.S. federal prosecutors charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government            property

• Issues of National  Security, and global concerns over terrorism

• Snowden claims action was an effort "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.”

• "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong." 

If we look at the ethics theory, especially Teleological theory, how can we describe a snowdern approach. 

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UTILITARIANISM

Utilitarianism
1. Moral theories can be divided into two major types, teleological and deontological. In teleological theories, (moral) right is derived from a theory of the (non-moral) good, or what is good or desirable as an end to be achieved. In Greek, telos means ‘goal’ or ‘aim.’ In deontological theories, (moral) right is derived without a theory of (non-moral) good, or what choice is (morally) right regardless of the end consequences. In Greek, deon means ‘duty.’ Utilitarian theories are teleological.

What Utilitarianism is (preliminary statement)

The Creed which accepts as the foundation of morals “utility” or the “greatest happiest principle” holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain, by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure (J.S. Mill Utilitarianism, p. 10).

What Utilitarianism is (restatement)

According to the greatest happiness principle...the ultimate end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable – whether we are considering our own good or that of other people- is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in point of quantity and quality: the test of quality and the rule for measuring it against quantity being the preference felt by those who, in their opportunities of experience, to which must be added their habits of self-consciousness and self-observation, are best furnished with means of comparison. This being according to the utilitarian opinion the end of human action, is necessarily also the standard of morality, which may accordingly be defined as “the rules and precepts for human conduct” (bold print and underline added) by the observance of which an existence such as has been described might be, to the greatest extent possible, secured to all mankind; and not to them only, but so far as the nature of things admit, to the whole sentient creation” (J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism p. 16).

Classical Version of Utilitarianism (e.g. Mill)

2. Theory of good (that is, claims concerning what we should desire): The only thing good as such is happiness (i.e. "pleasure"). Everything else is good only as a means.

3. Theory of right (that is, of what we should do): An act A is right if, and only if, among those mutually exclusive acts open to the agent, A would give the greatest net good overall.

a. Theory of right requires only comparison of courses of action open to agent. It is a theory of how to act.

b. "Greatest net happiness", not just "greatest happiness" because costs in unhappiness must also be considered. (Note analogy with profit or efficiency.)

c. A great pleasure should, of course, count for more than small pleasure; but two pleasures of the same strength are to count the same.

        * Pleasures as such are equal, no matter who is experiencing them.

        * Note: Mill thinks pleasures differ in "quality" as well as strength, but even for Mill pleasures of the                  same strength and quality are equal, however else they differ.

d. Who is experiencing a pleasure is, as such, irrelevant.

       * Your pleasures count for no more, and no less, than anyone else's.

       * Utilitarian deliberations are (in this way) "impartial".

       * Indeed, utilitarianism is radically impartial in this respect. Those affected need not even be people; they           need only be "sentient beings" (that is, anything capable of experiencing pleasure or pain). All elsE                equal, a dog's pleasure counts as much as yours.

e. The actual (or "objective") rightness of an act is determined by what actually happens.

       * In this respect, utilitarianism is radically future-oriented, BUT

       * Since an agent can't know in advance what will happen as a result of what she does (the "objectively             good"), she must choose on some other basis (for example, follow the strategy that seems most likely             to generate the right act).

       * Utilitarians often call acts so chosen "subjectively right".

      * The common view among utilitarians seems to be that the subjectively right act maximizes "expectable             utility", in other words, Uo x Po [(the utility of the outcome) x (the probability of that outcome)].

f. Classical utilitarianism differs from other moral theories primarily in what it omits rather than in what it            includes.

      * Some of the other moral theories are utilitarian (but not classical utilitarian). They offer more inclusive            theories of the good (for example, counting goods like beauty or justice as independent of happiness or          pleasure).

     * Others moral theories are non-utilitarian but still teleological. They understand the good as a certain               state of affairs is independent of the right, but do not define right acts as whatever achieves the good.

       For example: Virtue theory defines the right as acting according to virtue (but then preserves it                      teleological credentials by defining virtue as a disposition to act in ways tending, in the long run at least,          to achieve the good).

Utilitarian Method

1. Identify all courses of action open to you.

2. For each course of action, identify parties affected.

3. For each party, identify contribution of each course of action to that person's net happiness. [Generally, these first three steps must be carried out more or less together.]

4. Ignoring all other considerations, compare courses of action, taking account of the number of persons affected and how each is affected but not who is affected.

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CASE STUDY: Justin Bieber charged with assaulting limo driver (TEORI TELEOLOGI)

CASE STUDY TELEOLOGI

Justin Bieber charged with assaulting limo driver

Troubled pop sensation Justin Bieber has been charged with assault after he allegedly attacked a limousine driver last month in Toronto. 

The 19-year-old singer turned himself in to the 52 Division police station in Toronto to be formally charged with attacking a limousine driver last month, reported TMZ online. 

Bieber and his entourage were allegedly involved in an altercation while leaving a Toronto Maple Leafs game on December 29 last year at the Air Canada Centre and police were forced to intervene. 

This is the latest in a string of legal issues the 'Beauty and A Beat' hitmaker faces after he was arrested last week in Miami for driving under the influence (DUI), driving with an expired license and resisting arrest. 

The star reportedly pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

An arraignment date has been set for Valentine's Day (February 14), but Bieber is not required to attend. 

However, the troubled star could also potentially face felony charges after an incident earlier this month where one of his neighbours' homes was egged, causing USD 20,000 of damage. 

Officers for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department said they will soon be submitting evidence to the District Attorney, who will then decide whether to press charges. 

Meanwhile, Bieber, who is from Ontario, could be deported back to Canada after over 100,000 people signed a petition to have him removed from the US.

(From Business-standard.com)

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Kenaikan Harga Pakej Astro. Apakah pandangan anda berdasarkan kepada Teori Etika terutamanya teori Teleologi

Peneraju perkhidmatan televisyen berbayar, Astro mempertahankan keputusan mereka untuk menaikkan kadar caj bulanan kerana ia adalah sesuatu yang tidak dapat dielakkan lagi.

Salah satu punca utamanya adalah kerana sebahagian besar program siaran langsung sukan yang dibawa oleh Astro melibatkan kos yang sangat tinggi.

Ia kata Astro adalah satu fenomena global yang terpaksa ditanggung oleh para pembayar dan Malaysia tidak terlepas daripada dikenakan caj yang sama.

Ketua Pegawai Operasi Astro, Henry Tan berkata, kos untuk membawa siaran langsung Liga Perdana Inggeris telah meningkat sehingga 2000 peratus sejak ia mula ditayangkan pada tahun 1997.

Malah katanya, apabila kos tersebut telah capai ke satu tahap yang tidak boleh lagi ditanggung oleh penyedia perkhidmatan, ia terpaksa dikongsi bersama oleh para pelanggan.

Misalnya, Astro terpaksa mengenakan caj tambahan sebanyak RM6 lagi ke atas pakej saluran sukannya dan RM2 lagi ke atas pakej familinya. Ia kata Tan tidak dapat dielakkan lagi.

Bermula 24 November lepas, Pakej Famili Astro dicaj pada kadar RM39.95 daripada harga sebelumnya sebanyak RM37.95 manakala Pakej Sukan Astro dinaikkan menjadi RM82.95 berbanding RM74.95 sebelumnya.

Tambah beliau, persaingan untuk memperolehi hak eksklusif penyiaran turut menambah kepada tambahan kos tersebut kerana permintaan ke atas siaran langsung Liga Perdana Inggeris misalnya sangat tinggi di negara Asia khususnya di Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong dan Singapura.

Rantau ini sahaja merangkumi 43 peratus daripada kos hak penyiaran di luar Britain.

Bagaimanapun Tan menegaskan yang Astro adalah rangkaian penyiaran yang memberikan pakej liputan terbaik untuk saluran sukan berbanding dengan negara-negara Asia yang lain.

Astro perlu melabur berbilion ringgit untuk membawa pelbagai siaran langsung acara sukan khususnya bolasepak ke kaca televisyen dan kepada para pelanggannya.

Berdasarkan kepada isu diatas, dapatkah kita mengaitkannye dengan teori etika perniagaan yang ada.

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ISU KENAIKAN HARGA BARANG

     
Isu kenaikan harga barang. Siapa penyebab, siapa punca utama dan siapa mangsa, ianya menjadi pertelingkahan pelbagai pihak yang menyalahkan antara satu sama lain. Dari sudut pemerintah/ pihak berkuasa, ada yang menyalahkan pengguna dengan mengatakan pengguna adalah punya kepada kenaikan harga barangan disamping punca lain kenaikan harga barang. Dari sudut pandangan penguna, pemerintah adalah punca kenaikan harga barang.
   

       Jika kita melihat kepada teori-teori yang terdapat didalam etika perniagaan antaranya Teori teleologi, dan teori deontologi, kita pasti akan dapat merungkai permasalahan berkenaan kenaikan harga barang ini.

       Menurut Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi & Kepenggunaan dalam artikel di laman web, mereka, sikap pengguna punca kanaikan harga barangan.
   
  "TABIAT BERBELANJA BOROS?
Tabiat berbelanja boros sesetengah pengguna di negara ini, menurut Muhammad Sha'ani turut merangsang kenaikan harga barangan.
Menurut beliau, kemasukan barangan daripada luar negara pada harga yang berpatutan mendorong pengguna untuk sakan berbelanja.
"Pengguna hari ini cenderung berbelanja besar terutamanya golongan kelas pertengahan yang tidak teragak-agak menghamburkan wang mereka membeli produk teknologi baru dan aksesori peribadi atas nama fesyen dan kesenangan.
Pengguna yang berpendapatan pertengahan, katanya turut membawa dimensi baru dalam pembelian barangan.
"Mereka ini menghabiskan masa berjam-jam membeli-belah di pasar raya kerana terdapat banyak barangan makanan yang sofistikated di sana.
"Pengguna bebas melihat, memegang dan memilih barangan makanan yang tidak tahan lama (perishables) dan semuanya ini ada kos tambahan yang dikenakan ke atas barangan tersebut. Ini menyumbang kepada kenaikan harga barangan," jelas Muhammad Sha'ani.

BUDAYA BERHUTANG
Promosi berleluasa kad kredit, pinjaman perumahan dan sewa beli oleh institusi kewangan memburukkan lagi keadaan.
Muhammad Sha'ani berpendapat sektor kewangan sebenarnya menggalakkan budaya berhutang menerusi tawaran hadiah percuma, kadar faedah yang rendah serta skim bayaran balik mudah.
"Budaya berhutang semakin menjalar dalam kehidupan masyarakat hari ini. Anak-anak muda yang baru memasuki dunia pekerjaan turut terjebak dalam sindrom
Tambah beliau, gaya hidup 'miliki dulu, bayar kemudian' ini akan hanya mengheret pengguna ke dalam perangkap hutang dan mereka akhirnya akan menjadi muflis.
"Dalam ketika kos sara hidup semakin meningkat, kebanyakan bank semakin ligat mempromosikan pinjaman dan kad kredit mereka.
"Tanpa disedari pengguna, hutang mereka mula bertimbun sehinggakan ada yang terpaksa mengambil pinjaman peribadi semata-mata mahu melangsaikan hutang kad kredit," keluhnya."

(dipetik dari laman web KPDNKK)

Persoalan kenaikan harga barang sememangnya boleh dirungkai akan punya dan kesannya dengan melihat secara mendalam kepada teori - teori etika yang ada.

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Nota Interaktif

Nota persembahan interaktif boleh dilihat melalui link dibawah.

Teori Teleologi

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ISU Global - Nenek mencuri kerana bosan!!!

 

London: Seorang nenek mencuri ketika membeli-belah selama empat tahun kerana bosan dengan usia yang semakin tua.
June Humphreys, 76, menggunakan pas bas percuma untuk ke bandar berdekatan dan mengambil barangan, menyembunyikannya di dalam troli sebelum menyelinap keluar dari kedai tanpa membayar barangan berkenaan.

June akan melakukan demikian di dua daerah ketika menjalani rawatan untuk kanser payudara dan osteoarthritis. June dari Crewe, Cheshire mempunyai kesalahan jenayah mencuri pada 2011, 2012, 2013 dan Januari tahun ini.

Dalam kejadian terbaru, dia mengaku bersalah mencuri alat tulis dari Iceland yang berharga £2 (RM11), pakaian bayi dan pam payudara berharga £69 (RM381).

JUNE

Pegawai mahkamah Darren Vernon memberitahu majistret North Staffordshire, June mempunyai rekod ketagihan heroin ketika remaja.

Dia sering membuat perjalanan dengan pengangkutan awam dan melakukan jenayah.

“Dia tahu dia melakukan kesalahan.

Dia kata dia bosan dan tinggal sendirian.

Dia ada tujuh anak tetapi satu-satunya yang dihubungi June tinggal di atas kediamannya.” June dipenjarakan sebulan tetapi hukuman ditunda selama setahun.

Dia juga diberi amaran akan dipenjarakan jika melakukan kesalahan lagi.
Artikel ini disiarkan pada : 2014/01/30 - MY METRO

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Facebook reels in advertising cash

By Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco and Emily Steel in New York

 

Facebook is taking money from advertisers like sweets from babies. The social network celebrated its 10th birthday by showing off its latest set of delectable numbers: a revenue rise of 76 per cent, earnings rocketing by 82 per cent and an extra $16bn added to its market capitalisation in an after-hours trading party. The internet company successfully lured marketers with a recipe of adding deep data analytics to 1bn-plus users, helping it trounce expectations for three quarters running.

Robert Peck, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, said advertisers are buying more expensive Facebook adverts because they are seeing a strong return on investment.
“That advertisers are driving price increases is just amazing to me,” he said. “To have revenue acceleration at the same time as expanding margins, especially on a platform this big, is unique.”
Facebook first enticed big brands with the opportunity to reach its vast user base for free, offering them pages which, if only they got users to “like”, they could use as promotional material without spending a penny.
But as advertisers pile on to the network – total revenues hit $7.9bn last year – their appetites increased by even more detailed targeting, they have to pay to be seen.
Rob Leathern, chief product officer of social media marketing firm Brand Networks, said advertisers are facing more pressure to buy ads as unpaid posts are seen less often by users.
“All social networks are getting more efficient, and they need to balance volume and nature of promotional messages along with users’ preferences,” he said.
“Demand means that other advertisers will pay to reach those consumers, so there will be fewer free lunches,” he added. “On the supply side, that means that brands who create the most compelling content will definitely get organic distribution. But the truth is that most of the regular tweets/posts that brands produce are just not very interesting.”

Facebook is now second to Google in the global advertising market, the US digital advertising market and the worldwide mobile advertising market, according to data from eMarketer. After looking like it could flail on mobile, it enjoyed an 18 per cent share of the worldwide mobile ad spend in 2013, a market which grew almost 90 per cent last year.

Google is still by far the most dominant player in online advertising but Jan Rezab, chief executive of social analytics company Social Baker, said in some areas marketers found Facebook better than Google.
“Google assumes you like this and like that based on browsing but Facebook knows because it is connected to you,” he said, adding it knows not just what pages you like but what content you actively engage with, for example, by commenting on it.
Facebook can also help a market which Google has traditionally owned: small businesses. Facebook now helps small businesses advertise to existing customers and people who look like them by letting them upload their customer base. Mr Rezab said it was “more natural” for small businesses to communicate with their customers socially than by search.

But Facebook still has to watch its back for other social sites – which also have treasure troves of information about their users – coming up behind it. It may have by far the largest user base but Twitter is gaining share in the advertising market and Pinterest, the online scrapbooking site, is already referring higher spending traffic to ecommerce companies before it has even started taking paid adverts, according to data from the Adobe Digital Index.

The company knows its challenge is to keep the momentum going, as advertisers could prove fickle and flock to the latest social media darling. This is particularly the case for companies such as Twitter and Snapchat, which are luring teenage users away from the site.

On its earnings call, Facebook said it is busy developing analytics to show bricks-and-mortar retailers that social adverts can drive in-store sales, opening more offices in Asia as it pushes advertising sales in less developed markets and experimenting with adverts on Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app particularly popular with teenagers.

It has previously announced it is rolling out video adverts, which automatically play in feeds, and has hinted at creating a mobile advertising network that allows it to use its data to serve advertisers on other sites.

Mr Peck said the company’s plans were all “intriguing” and the size and the engagement rates of its audience were – for now – incomparable. He said the more than 750m people logging on to Facebook on their smartphone every day is “astounding”.
“It is testament to the power of the platform,” he said.

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